Stop and stare
by geekchic79
Summary: Ernst and Ilse have some fun breaking into Thea's tree house, Hanschen/Ernst oneshot eventually


'Stop and stare'

A/N: Just a quick one shot, based on a few lines from my other story, 'Meeting at Night' (below) by request from the lovely ChalcedonyRivers, enjoy!

"_but Ilse, I'm not exactly inclined to seduce a women I let dress me up as the 'pirate queen' aged eleven to 'see what it would look like,'" he smiled kindly, "or any women for that matter,"_

"No!"

"Please?!"

"No! I'm not doing it."

"But Hanschen!"

"Ilse! Find someone else!"

"But, the materials blue! And everyone knows that blue looks best with blonde hair,"

They had been in Thea's tree house for some hours now, her parents had left town for the weekend taking their daughter with them, hence Ilse and Hanschen sneaking into her garden, climbing the tree to the rickety wooden den and spending the morning happily ransacking her dressing up box for pirate outfits, in order to meet the others after lunch. Now Hanschen was largely regretting letting Ilse choose the costumes.

"Hanschen," Ilse turned her pleading wide green eyes on his, "How can the pirate queen ever rule the seas if she can't run faster than Melchior, Wendla and Moritz?!"

"Why can't you be the fairy queen then?! Hanschen remonstrated

"Because!" Ilse blazed, "I need to climb the trees for our counter-attack and if I tear Thea's dressing up clothes she'll know we broke in! And anyway," she continued to smooth down the folds of the dress irritably as if unwilling to admit her next statement, "you can run faster."

Hanschen leant his head back against the wooden walls of the tree house, Ilse was so far immersed in their game that there was no stopping her imagination.

"Fine," he sighed

"Brilliant!" Ilse beamed, reaching for the patterned dress that she had left by the window, "Shirt off!" she commanded, Hanschen pulled at the fabric,

"I'm only doing this so you shut up," he muttered, tearing the wool over his head.

Twenty minutes later, he was decked from head to toe in ruffles, ribbons, bows and flowers among other adornments he had thought highly unsuitable for anyone commanding a ship at sea.

"Nearly done!" Ilse sung, "you do make a wonderful pirate queen, let me just fix your hair and make-up"

"Wait, you never said anything about hair and make-up!"

Ilse turned to him, a smile playing on her lips, "Every pirate queen should have a beautiful hair-do,"

"And the make-up?!"

Ilse smiled, "that's just for you."

"Hey!" Hanschen protested, turning round. Laughing Ilse tilted his head to face the other way.

"Keep still."

Hanschen gave in, they sat for a few moments in silence as she brushed and curled.

"Are you still arguing with your father?" he questioned.

"What?" Ilse stopped abruptly

"You said you were always fighting, have you stopped?"

Ilse seemed flustered, "Yes, yes of course, it was just-"

Hanschen turned again, worried, "Ilse if he's hurt you again I'll-"

"So Hanschen," she cut in smoothly, kneeling before him to apply rouge to his cheeks, "which do you like better, pirates or faeries?"

Hanschen looked confused, "why are you asking me?"

"Pirates are my favourite," she continued barely taking notice of his question, "because of their hats and you get to play sword fighting."

"Ilse-" he began,

"Yes?" she held his gaze, he sighed.

"I like them both," he answered resignedly.

"Both?!" she stood back mock outraged; "you can't like them both! The faeries and the pirates are sworn enemies!"

"Pirates can sword fight, but faeries can fly," Hanschen continued, "they're different but they're both good."

"Honestly Hanschen pick a side!" Ilse demanded, "How are we going to fight the other pirates if you'd rather play something else altogether!"

"Ilse it's only a game!

"Yes, so why can't you just pick one?! You can't have it both ways!"

"I'm sick of justifying everything to other people," Hanschen retorted, "why does it matter to you anyway?!""

She smiled dreamily, "I suppose it shouldn't,"

Hanschen looked sulkily at the floor, "maybe I should just go home."

"Come on," Ilse chuckled, "you like playing here, you know you do."

Hanschen gave in and sat down, "I suppose it makes a change from school, and homework and housework and then more school."

Ilse smacked his head playfully, "Just be thankful you get to go to school," as she continued to paint pink onto Hanschen's lips she was unaware of the young boy climbing up the ladder to Thea's tree house.

"Hello."

Ernst Robel stood in the doorway. Hanschen jumped up too quickly causing Ilse to smudge a line of lipstick down his cheek. Thea's grandmother's fake tiara tipped lopsided on his head, strings of pearls clanked around his neck and the blue and purple dress, complete with matching feather boa, fell way past his feet.

"Get out!" he and Ilse chorused.

Ernst continued hesitantly on into the tree house, "My mother thought you might like these," he held a punnet of nectarines shyly in his hands, "I had to walk quite a way to find you," he turned to Ilse who had pressed a hand to her mouth to stop the giggles, "Ilse your father says he wants you home."

Ilse shuddered, "Oh jesus Christ."

Hanschen saw Ernst gasp a little, he didn't know the dark haired boy very well, but he new his family was quite religious. Ilse turned to him,

"I better go,"

"Would you like some fruit to eat on your way?" Ernst offered kindly

"No thanks," she declined, "I'll see you tomorrow, goodbye Hanschen." She gave a wistful wave and made her way haphazardly down the ladder.

Ernst turned to Hanschen, "why are you dressed like that?

"Long story," Hanschen murmured still staring after Ilse, "would you help me get all this off?"

Ernst nodded diffidently, "Of course."

Hanschen watched, interested, as Ernst folded the clothes with extreme care,

"Why are you folding them so neatly? It's only Thea, she won't mind."

Ernst continued to fold, smiling, "I don't have to justify everything I do."

Hanschen sat down heavily at the entrance to the tree house, swinging his legs over the edge, "you should try living my life," he paused, unsure whether or not to carry on, "convincing my parents that I should be aloud to come out and play was ward enough, in the end I just stopped asking," he banged a hand against the trunk of the tree, the first flowers were just coming into bloom, "bloody idiots."

Ernst sat down next to him, "You know," he said, fixing his wide brown eyes intently on Hanschen's, "I don't think the world's half as bad as you paint it to be."

Hanschen smiled and started down the ladder, "come back to mine for tea?" he asked.

"I'd love to," Ernst wasn't sure if he was dreaming out loud as he followed the blonde boy, but he had a feeling that, from now on, the world wasn't going to be as bad as he had painted it to be either.


End file.
